Aspire (2025)

Here Awhile

Terminally ill Anna returns to Oregon to reconnect with her estranged brother while simultaneously making the heart-wrenching choice to end her life putting to use the Death with Dignity Act.

Killer Diller

A guitar playing car thief meets an autistic savant piano player, and together they transform a group of reluctant halfway house convicts into The Killer Diller Blues Band.

My Name Is Khan

Rizwan Khan, a Muslim from the Borivali section of Mumbai, has Asperger's syndrome. He marries a Hindu single mother, Mandira, in San Francisco. After 9/11, Rizwan is detained by authorities at LAX who treat him as a terrorist because of his condition and his race.

Backstreet Dreams

Caught in the web of inner city violence, extortion and drugs, Dean Costello is a small-time gangster with big-time dreams for himself and his autistic son, Shane. When his marriage to Ludy falls apart the doctors tell Dean that there is no hope for his son, he turns to a wealthy child psychologist, Stephanie "Stevie" Bloom in a final effort to reach Shane. Stevie tries to convince Dean that he must commit himself to Shane and leave behind his life on the streets. But Dean's violent world continues to haunt him, and threatens to destroy the dreams he has for his son, for himself, and for Stevie. In a final battle, he must face overwhelming odds... alone.

Mercury Rising

Renegade FBI agent Art Jeffries protects a nine-year-old autistic boy who has cracked the government's new "unbreakable" code.

Ben X

Harassed by bullies because of his mild autism, teen Ben finds refuge in an online computer game, which leads him to his virtual dream girl, Scarlite. Together, the odd couple seeks revenge against Ben's tormentors.

I, Olga Hepnarova

Olga is a complex young woman desperate to break free from her unfeeling family and social conventions. With her Louise Brooks-like tomboyish looks she drags herself, chain-smoking, from one job to another until she appears to find her niche as a truck driver. Although she has female lovers she does not form a bond with any of them; instead she clashes, time and again, venting herself in wordless emotional outbursts and other behavioural extremes.

Undertow

Anxious to make a good impression, an autistic university student attempts to 'fit in' for the sake of potential friendship, what could possibly go wrong?

Die Eisbombe

A family in eco-fever. The Schuhmann Weils are radical environmentalists and mother their 19-year-old son like a small child. One day, when a chunk of ice hits the family home and the family seek shelter in a bomb shelter, Tom seizes the opportunity to escape to freedom and self-determination...

How to Lose Friends & Alienate People

Sidney Young is a down-on-his-luck journalist. Thanks to a stint involving a pig and a glitzy awards ceremony, Sidney turns his fortunes around, attracting the attention of Clayton Harding, editor of New York-based glossy magazine 'Sharps', and landing the holy grail of journalism jobs. The Brit jets off to the Big Apple and moves from one blunder to the next.

Set It Up

Two overworked and underpaid assistants come up with a plan to get their bosses off their backs by setting them up with each other.

Tanvi the Great

Autistic young Tanvi Raina learns of her deceased Indian Army father's dream to salute the flag at Siachen Glacier. Despite barriers facing those neurodivergent in military service, she resolves to complete his mission.

Adam

Adam, a lonely man with Asperger's Syndrome, develops a relationship with his upstairs neighbor, Beth.

Don't Believe the Hype

Dawid, Vanessa and Ludwig are the finalists at a pitch-competition for a movie about the German Rap phenomenon CRO. As the three youngsters work out their extraordinary film ideas, they must fight through unexpected personal challenges.

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

A young but bright former window cleaner rises to the top of his company by following the advice of a book about ruthless advancement in business.

Mary and Max

A tale of friendship between two unlikely pen pals: Mary, a lonely, eight-year-old girl living in the suburbs of Melbourne, and Max, a forty-four-year old, severely obese man living in New York.

Change of Habit

Dr. John Carpenter takes the job of running a health center in a low-income district. He enlists three women to help out who — unbeknownst to him — are actually nuns in street clothes. The church wants to improve the neighborhood but fears that nuns in full habit would not be well received. Unaware of her unavailability, John falls for Sister Michelle, serenading her with his guitar — which, luckily for him, effectively wears away at her religious resolve.

Bleeder

Two stories for the price of one: a video store clerk tries to get acquainted with a waitress; a man beats his pregnant wife, unaware that her brother is a violent racist.

Flaminia

Flaminia De Angelis, a cheerful girl from North Rome, is obsessed with fitness and comes from a wealthy background. Under pressure from her mother, she is about to marry Alberto, the son of a diplomat, as a means to climb the social ladder. The arrival of her autistic half-sister, Ludovica, turns her life upside down, and an unexpected event puts everything at risk.

Secretary

A young woman, recently released from a mental hospital, gets a job as a secretary to a demanding lawyer, where their employer-employee relationship turns into a sexual, sadomasochistic one.

When Time Got Louder

Departing for college, Abbie leaves her parents and brother who has autism and is non-verbal. As she explores her independence and sexuality, she's torn between her new life and her love for her brother.

The Puppet Asylum

Otto Baxter, a filmmaker with Down's Syndrome, directs and stars in this musical horror-comedy short based on his life, set in Victorian London.

Teardrops From A Clown

Against the backdrop of a 16 year-old autistic boy’s birthday party, a soon to retire clown’s entertainment goes wrong leading to him to worry about his legacy.

Liminal Girl

Amidst the pandemic, a woman embarks on a treacherous journey through the wilderness to reach her brother while grappling with her mental state.

Wongkamlao

The story of Petcharawut, the heir of Wongkamlao Family, an extremely wealthy family that runs jewelry business, who falls in love with Piramon, who is an English tutor for his own younger brother. But the love affair between the rich and the poor always comes with conditions and obstacles.

Being There

A simple-minded gardener named Chance has spent all his life in the Washington D.C. house of an old man. When the man dies, Chance is put out on the street with no knowledge of the world except what he has learned from television.

Bless the Child

When Maggie's sister Jenna saddles her with an autistic newborn named Cody she touches Maggie's heart and becomes the daughter she has always longed for. But six years later Jenna suddenly re-enters her life and, with her mysterious new husband, Eric Stark, abducts Cody. Despite the fact that Maggie has no legal rights to Cody, FBI agent John Travis takes up her cause when he realizes that Cody shares the same birth date as several other recently murdered children.

Labor Pains

A young woman pretends to be pregnant in order to avoid being fired from her job. When that gets her a bunch of special treatment by everyone involved in her life, she tries to keep up the lie for nine months.

The Black Balloon

Thomas is turning 16. His dad's in the army and they've just moved to a town in New South Wales; his mom is pregnant; his older brother, Charlie, who's autistic, has his own adolescent sexual issues. Thomas finds Charlie an embarrassment in public, so when Thomas is attracted to Jackie, a girl in his swim class, Charlie presents any number of obstacles when she drops by their house, when the three of them go for a walk, and during a family birthday dinner. Can Thomas find a way to enter the world of teen romance and still be his brother's keeper, or is Charlie's disability going to prove more than Thomas can handle?

The Sense of Wonder

Louise, a widow with two children, almost crushes a stranger with her car. She takes care of him, even if he's not really wounded. It turns out that he has mental disorders and that they can help each other much more than they thought.

I Used to Be Famous

A former boy band star unexpectedly gets a second shot at success when he forms a bond with a gifted young drummer.

Flying Lessons

Two estranged adopted sisters are forced together by their mother's sudden death: Beatrice, an autistic Chinese high school senior who wants to learn to fly, and Talia, a queer black musician who never wanted custody of Beatrice in the first place. Starring the autistic actress the story is based on, the film blurs narrative and documentary styles and showcases a unique and underrepresented perspective on death and grief.

Ashley Storrie: Hysterical

Star of BBC Scotland's Up For It! and BBC Radio Scotland, Ashley Storrie returns to the Fringe with a raw and hysterical show about mental health and the ways she uses humour to overcome her pain.

Silent Fall

Having seen the double murder of his parents, autistic youth Tim Warden is sent to therapy with controversial therapist Dr. Jake Rainer. Jake tries to probe the silent child about what he saw, but he gets more details about the Wardens' household dynamics from Tim's teenage sister, Sylvie. As he spends more time with the siblings, Jake learns that the Wardens' marriage was not as perfect as it seemed, and he uncovers other new details that might help solve the crime.

Swati Muthyam

After an autistic man impulsively marries a young widow, she must move to the city and ensure the welfare of her new family, against the glare of societal judgement and financial struggle.

Caravan

Overwhelmed by motherhood, Ester steals a caravan and flees to southern Italy with her son David, with an intellectual disability. They meet a young drifter whose open heart transforms their makeshift family into something freer, lighter, and full of unexpected hope.

Beauty & the Briefcase

A freelance writer looking for romance sells a story to Cosmopolitan magazine about finding love in the workplace and goes undercover at a Finance Company.

Son-Rise: A Miracle of Love

A young couple is overjoyed when they find out that, after having had two girls, the wife is pregnant again, and this time it will be a son. However, the boy turns out to autistic. Unhappy with the diagnoses and treatments available, they decide to work out their own therapy program for their son.

Lover Come Back

Jerry Webster and Carol Templeton are rival Madison Avenue advertising executives who each dislike each other’s methods. After he steals a client out from under her cute little nose, revenge prompts her to infiltrate his secret "VIP" campaign in order to persuade the mystery product’s scientist to switch to her firm.

Burning Bright

After her lousy stepfather steals her savings to buy a vicious tiger, Kelly loses all hope of going to college. But Kelly's situation worsens when a hurricane leaves her and her autistic brother boarded up in their house with the man-eating beast. This edge-of-your-seat thriller follows the gutsy heroine and her younger sibling as they struggle to outwit the ravenous predator and find a way to survive.

The Giant

A film about Rikard, age 30. He is autistic and severely disfigured. He lives in a home for disabled people. He was separated from his mother as a three-year-old, and this continues to torment him today. To deal with life's trials, Rikard escapes into a fantasy world in which he's a 50-meter-tall giant.

Space Boy

Tai-shian is locked away in his own autistic universe, totally lost to the world. His parents spend every day looking after him, rendering Tai-shian’s little sister Debby completely invisible to her parents…until one day, when both parents are gone, and Debby finds a new task thrust upon her.

The Color of The Room

Ramiro has been diagnosed with autism. He loves order, his music, his sheets, the rhythm of the day, and the color of his room. His mother, Aurora, who has cared for him for years, will not reveal the reason why she has decided to move her son to her best friend Elsa’s house. Ramiro’s life as he knows it is destined to fall apart.

A Boy Called Po

A recently widowed, now single father struggles to raise his sixth-grade son with autism. The pressure of his job and coping with the loss of his wife proves to push him nearly to the breaking point.

The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom

Harriet Blossom is married to Robert Blossom, a businessman who'd rather spend the night at his bra factory than at home with her. One day, Harriet's sewing machine breaks, so Robert sends a repairman, Ambrose, to fix it. It's lust at first sight for Harriet, who convinces Ambrose to hide out in the attic for a tryst. When her new beau shows no desire to leave, the pair begin a years-long love affair right under Robert's nose.

The Midway Point

Jake, a high schooler on the autistic spectrum, feels disillusioned with the world. When he meets Alice, he begins to experience the world in other ways. Little does Jake know, Alice may have more in common with him than he could imagine.

House of Cards

When Ruth Matthews's husband is killed in a fall at an archaeological dig, her daughter Sally handles her father's death in a very odd manner. As Sally's condition worsens, Ruth takes her to see Jake, an expert in childhood autism. Jake attempts to bring Sally out of her mental disarray through traditional therapy methods, but Ruth takes a different route. She risks her own sanity by attempting to enter her daughter's mind and make sense of the seemingly bizarre things that Sally does, including building a wondrous house of cards